Iditarod Tails March 15, 2017
5:00 p.m.
The
mushers continue to pour into Nome with 16 having crossed the finish line
looking forward to a hot meal and a warm bed after more than a week of mushing
in the Alaskan wilderness. Five have left the last checkpoint before Nome
Safety, 22 miles from Nome and its balmy 6 degrees falling to an estimated -9
degrees. Nine have left White Mountain (77 miles to go to Nome) and 5 have
entered but have not left Elim yet including Martin Buser who is in 31st
Place and he remains in 31st place all mushers who finish after him
will receive the same $1049 payment if they finish. Cindy Abbott is no longer
in last place and into Unalakleet 261
miles from Nome and pursued by three male rookies. She probably has another 3-4
days on the trail. 6 mushers have scratched.
Iditarod Tails March 15, 2017 10:p.m. five mushers are bringing up the
rear out of Unalakleet (261 miles from Nome) in the dark separated by only a
few minutes in temperatures expected to reach -16 degrees in the early morning
hours but in modest winds and no precipitation:
|
62
|
Paul Hansen (r)
|
47
|
3/15 13:14:00
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12
|
3/15 18:49:00
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12
|
5h 35m
|
19h 4m
|
Kaltag
|
3/14 18:10:00
|
4.46
|
 |
|
 |
||
|
63
|
Peter Reuter (r)
|
53
|
3/15 12:54:00
|
9
|
3/15 18:50:00
|
9
|
5h 56m
|
18h 45m
|
Kaltag
|
3/14 18:09:00
|
4.53
|
|
|
|
||
|
64
|
Jimmy Lebling (r)
|
43
|
3/15 12:54:00
|
12
|
3/15 19:02:00
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12
|
6h 8m
|
18h 33m
|
Kaltag
|
3/14 18:21:00
|
4.58
|
|
|
|
||
|
65
|
Roger Lee (r)
|
10
|
3/15 11:30:00
|
10
|
3/15 19:05:00
|
9
|
7h 35m
|
18h 18m
|
Kaltag
|
3/14 17:12:00
|
4.64
|
|
|
 |
||
|
66
|
31
|
3/15 12:42:00
|
13
|
3/15 19:13:00
|
13
|
6h 31m
|
17h 24m
|
Kaltag
|
Cindy Abbot has dropped back
into last place with the only goal the remaining mushers have after the musher
in 31st place crosses the finish line in Nome will be that they
finished a race that as of now 6 have scratched but when that happens all
remaining mushers will receive the same $1049 so they can spend more time
resting in the remaining checkpoints. On the human side John Baker waited in
Koyuk for his fiancé Katherine Keith to catch up after learning she had lost a dog
(one of four that were lost, the largest number since 2009); they raced the
rest of the way to Nome as a team and crossed feet apart in 18th and
19th place—good sign of a good chance for a long term marriage.
Iditarod rules require the each
musher have his or her vet book detailing the health of his dogs on his or her sled at
all times. Dallas Seavey somehow lost it in Safety; Nic Petit found it and
returned it to Dallas after crossing a few minutes into Nome an act that may
have cost him second place and almost $5,000 for finishing third not second.
Great sportsmanship that typifies the ideal of the Nome serum run in 1925 that formed
the basis for the Iditarod.
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